


Clueless

by Midotaka16



Category: VICTON (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midotaka16/pseuds/Midotaka16
Summary: Sejun is wildly in love with his roommate, and since their lease is running out, time is ticking.
Relationships: Han Seungwoo/Kang Seungsik, Im Sejun/Jung Subin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53
Collections: VICFEST®—round two!





	Clueless

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 480: Subin and Sejun are roommates and Sejun has to find a way to tell Subin how he feels before Subin moves out at the end of their lease, but every time he tries, Subin thinks he’s just babying him.

Sejun closed the door to his apartment behind him and twisted the lock closed. He slid off his sneakers by the door and called out expectantly, “I’m back!”

There was no reply and Sejun sighed, already unhappily familiar with the emptiness. Subin was probably out for another late night at the office. It had been a while since they had the time to eat dinner together because they both worked late. Sejun fished in his pocket for his phone as he absentmindedly slid into his indoor slippers by the shoe rack. Pulling up his chat with Subin, he typed out, “Stay safe coming home tonight. Also, can we talk about housing this weekend?” 

He pocketed his phone and walked over to the couch and plopped onto the plush cushioning. He pulled over a stuffed bunny onto his lap and squished its round cheeks sadly while thinking. He had been living with his best friend, Subin, in a 2 bedroom apartment for the last two years, and the lease was ending at the end of the month. Because Subin had been extremely busy lately, the two of them hadn’t had the chance to discuss their plans, so he didn’t know whether they’d renew the lease, or even whether or not Subin wanted to continue living with him. They had another month to make up their minds, and Sejun was spending sleepless nights staring at his ceiling, unreasonably afraid of broaching the subject. Although he knew they were good friends, the insecurity in his mind told him that since Subin hadn’t brought it up yet, he didn’t want to continue living together.

Sejun’s phone chirped, and he pulled it out again to see 3 new messages, one from Subin. _“Sounds good, this weekend I'm free. I’ll be back in an hour or so, don’t worry so much. You’ll get gray hair.”_

Sejun rolled his eyes and sent him a thumbs up sticker. He swiped through the other chats to see the unread messages. One from Seungsik said, _“You can do it, fighting!”_ and the other one a sticker of Ryan waving two hearts from Seungwoo in the same chat.

Sejun grinned bitterly at the supportive messages, and sent back some heart emojis. Then reality hit him and he groaned, throwing his head back to stare at the ceiling. The biggest problem of all was that Sejun had a massive crush on Subin, 2 years running. His younger friend was the cutest boy in the world, and every nose scrunch, smile, or hug from him made Sejun a blushing mess. His friends Seungsik and Seungwoo had advised him multiple times to just confess, but he had protested, agitatedly pointing out that living with Subin meant that if the confession went badly, they would have the most awkward relationship ever. And not only did he not want to lose a great friend, but he’d also rather die than enter the boxing ring of trying to find a new roommate.

But just today, Seungsik and Seungwoo had taken him out _(ambushed him)_ to get boba after work, and after some small talk, had pointedly noted that since the lease was almost over, he could finally confess. 

_“What’s the worst that could happen?” Seungwoo had said. “You could run away if it really went badly.”_

_Seungsik had elbowed his boyfriend in the ribs, ignoring the hiss of pain, and smiled calmly at Sejun. “And you don’t want to live with these feelings hidden forever, do you? Let’s not have any regrets."_

With the wiseness that came from having a stable, happy relationship, Seungsik seemed to be the appropriate authority to listen to. 

Under great duress, Sejun had finally agreed, so here he was, freaking out over how to let Subin know about his feelings towards him. It’s not like he had much experience with asking people out; his last two relationships were back in college, and consisted of other people confessing to him. 

Sejun’s stomach grumbled, and he stood up, heading to the kitchen to microwave some leftovers. As he looked into the fridge he thought about Subin, and whether he had eaten. Remembering the tired look on the boy’s face yesterday when they had last parted ways, he was almost positive he hadn’t been taking care of himself. “That’s it!” he exclaimed.

“He’s been super busy recently, I’ll just make him food for dinner. People like sweet things right?” That’s one of the love languages.” Sejun nodded to himself, feeling very smart. He was sure that he had seen this in one of the books that Seungwoo had used to confess. “This is the perfect idea!”

He pulled out some marinated bulgogi meat and placed it on the non-stick frying pan to heat up. He looked in the fridge and inspected what else he could make. Thank god there was some rice that he had steamed the previous day, as well as some side dishes that his mom had dropped off during her last visit. Sejun decided that the best thing to do was to make some sort of bento box for Subin to eat when he came home and soften him enough to confess. He started heating up the rice and placed it into a glass bento box tupperware, along with a heaping spoonful of bean sprouts and some pickled cucumbers.

The bulgogi was almost finished and Sejun sprinkled in some sesame seeds and half a chopped green onion before stirring well. His stomach grumbled again, reminding him that he too had to eat. He divided the portions and brought his half to the kitchen table, eating it quietly while watching a Youtube video. He checked the time again and decided that he could probably stay up and wait for Subin. _There’s no better time than the present right?_ He asked himself slightly manically. 

He washed his dishes quietly, and placed the bento box on the table. The apartment was eerily quiet, and all he could hear was the soft ticking of the mechanical clock hanging in the kitchen. A sense of self-pity fell over him. What was he doing on a Wednesday evening, staring into space?

Sejun got up, deciding to first take a shower before Subin came home. He left the food on the table, and went into his room to pick up his pajamas before going into their shared bathroom. He turned on some newly released music from his favorite artist, and got into the shower, humming happily as he scrubbed his hair. He was in the middle of belting out the chorus when he heard the door to the apartment open. He moved a little faster, calling out, “ Welcome home! Food is on the table for you.” 

He heard a yell of acknowledgement as he rinsed himself off. Humming softly, he got out of the shower, and dried his feet on the bath mat. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he peeped his head out and waved at Subin, who had a clear view of him from his position at the dining table. Subin nodded back at him, cheeks already full of food. 

“I’ll be out in a sec!” He said, before turning back to the bathroom, not noticing Subin’s faint blush at the sight of his bare chest. 

Sejun got dressed quickly, putting on a sweater with his pajama pants. He squeeze-dried his hair gently with a cotton t-shirt, tip for less hair breakage from living with Seungsik, and went to his room to dump his dirty laundry and hang up his towel. He shuffled back out to the dining room, and smiled at the sight of the almost cleared out dishes. “Good?”

Subin nodded, crunching on the last piece of pickled cucumber in his mouth. “Thank you for dinner! What’s the special occasion?”

Flustered, Sejun shrugged, his mind immediately clearing any signs of intelligence. “Just wanted to feed you; you’ve been really busy recently right? I bet you’ve only had convenience store food.” Well there goes his chance to confess tonight… at least he hadn’t promised Seungsik and Seungwoo any sort of timeline. 

A playful scowl appeared on Subin’s face. “Thanks hyung, no need to worry. I’m an adult too. And don’t think I don’t remember what you and Seungsik were like when you two were college roommates.” He puffed up his chest endearingly. 

Sejun sighed internally, yep, a complete dud. “Let’s go wash dishes and watch a movie?”

Subin shook his head sheepishly, “I have more work to do, sorry. But how about Friday? I’m taking a day off because the big project finishes tomorrow, and you don’t work Fridays right? We can have a day just to ourselves.”

He instantly brightened up, pulling out his phone to check his calendar. After confirming that he had no major commitments, he gave a thumbs up. “Other than a couple of errands I can reschedule, Friday is perfect.”

Subin laughed at his excited energy, and stood up to wash his dishes. “Sounds good, i’ll pencil you into my busy calendar.”

“I’m so grateful you could make time for poor little me,” he responded sarcastically. He flicked Subin gently on the forehead before heading back into his room to go and squeal in his group chat. Subin had given him the perfect opportunity to plan out a romantic confession. Resting on his bed with his laptop in his lap, Sejun began preparing for his Friday date.

———-  
From where Sejun was sleeping on the sofa, he was jolted awake by the sound of his cell phone ringing next to his head, playing a song his friend Hanse had composed. He reached over without looking to answer the call groggily before squinting at the digital clock in his room to see it was 1 AM. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, is this Sejun?” a voice screamed, a loud commotion in the background. Sejun held his phone away from his ear, afraid for his eardrums. Even so, he could hear people chanting for someone to drink.

“Yes, who is this?” He responded reluctantly. He swung his legs off the bed, and smoothened his hair back sleepily.

The volume got slightly more tolerable. “Hi, I’m Subin’s coworker Byungchan? We were playing some games and… he passed out after a few shots. He kept asking for you, so....” 

Sejun sighed softly. Subin had texted him earlier in the evening to say that he was going to be late and not to wait for him because his coworkers wanted to go out to celebrate. “Where is the restaurant? I’ll be there.”

Using the instructions Byungchan had given him, he pulled up to the restaurant within 20 minutes. By then Subin had woken up again, and was leaning sleepily against a wall next to the entrance. 

“Come here you big baby,” Sejun sighed, reaching out his arms, and Subin bounced forward, his head leaning heavily against Sejun’s chest. Sejun strained to hold his weight, and he was suddenly grateful for his avid passion for working out.

“I’m not a baby...I want to go home and sleep.” Subin whined.

A man that Sejun assumed was Byungchan who had been waiting next to Subin patiently on the bench giggled quietly and waved. “I’ll be going back to the party again, take care!”

Sejun waved back and thanked him quickly before staring back at his luggage. With great effort, Sejun maneuvered Subin into the car, and got into the driver’s seat. He handed him a bottle of water to try to sober him up. “Drink okay? You have such a bad tolerance of alcohol.” He chided.

As Sejun pulled away from the curb Subin yawned again, and drank some water. “I’m awake, i’m awake!” He blinked drowsily out the front window, almost not awake. “Thank you for picking me up Sejunie.”

He just smiled fondly at the cute sight. “What would you do without me?”

“I’d call another hyung.” Subin teased. “You aren’t my only option.”

“But I'm your first, wasn’t I?” 

“Of course.” Sejun’s heart rose at the comment, but the petty voice in his head told him that Subin didn’t mean it that way, that he just thought it was more convenient because they lived together. 

“Hey Subin, I have something to ask of you…” He paused briefly, mustering up some hidden courage. _It was going to be okay._ “I really like you.”

At the silence, Sejun feared for the worst, his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel getting clammy. The silence prolonged to an unreasonably awkward length, and at a red light, he turned to Subin, afraid of his reaction. To his mixed surprise and relief, Subin was asleep again, his eyes closed and mouth opened slightly with each deep breath. The water bottle had been shoved between his thighs, and the cap was still in Subin’s curled up hand. Sejun fought the urge to smack his head into the steering wheel. This was neither the time nor the place; did he even want his confession to be in their old car while Subin was drunk?

He let Subin sleep, taking the time to scream mentally at the feeling of trying to confess for the first time in his life. This was okay right? It was just a test run, and he’d have a grand performance tomorrow— or later today. He had planned for a fun day, starting with some time at an amusement park, followed by a movie, and some delicious food at night. 

At last, Sejun pulled over into their parking space and turned off the engine. He looked over at Subin, who was now leaning against the window, still sleeping. He carefully removed the bottle cap and bottle from Subin, and capped it before shaking him gently to wake him. Subin blinked quietly at him. “We’re here.”

Subin got out, only stumbling a little bit. “Wow the cold air really does wake you up. I didn’t know it was winter already.” He murmured.

Sejun shook his head wryly and led them back up to their apartment. “Any season is cold at…” he paused to look at his phone screen. “2 in the morning.”

“Thank you for picking me up.” Subin turned his doe-like eyes to him and Sejun’s heart melted at his apologetic look. 

“Just come on in,” Sejun gestured to the apartment. “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone you know.”

Mentally and physically exhausted, Sejun went back to bed while Subin went to do his night routine. Sejun placed his phone down without checking the alarm he had set up earlier, and he curled up snugly in his blankets, the residual chills finally leaving him. Before he could fall asleep, his door opened and he looked up at the light coming in.

Subin’s face popped up, fresh from the shower, and he waved. “Good night Sejunie, sleep well. Thank you for having my back.”

“No worries,” Sejun responded, yawning quietly. “Sleep well.”

———————

A muffled curse rang from outside his room, and Sejun pried his eyes open, still shaking off his sleep. The cursing continued and finally Subin poked his head into his room. “We overslept! Get up, it’s already noon. We can still make our lunch reservation if we leave now.”

Subin’s face withdrew from the doorframe and Sejun could hear him running to the bathroom. Sejun jumped out of bed, and started pulling off his pants to change. Upon glancing at his phone, he realized that the alarm was ringing but silently, the screen prompting him to snooze or dismiss the alarm. Although they had missed their breakfast plans, they still had time before the 1 pm late lunch that Sejun had originally planned. 

He quickly changed, grateful he had been so nervous last night that he had called Seungsik, and by association, Seungwoo, last night for advice on what to wear. Sejun came out of the room, and entered the bathroom where Subin was washing his face. He grabbed his toothbrush and squeezed some toothpaste on it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Subin make grabby hands towards his facial towel, so he placed it into Subin’s hands. 

“Thank you,” Subin said, lifting his face up from his towel. He looked at Sejun and his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Who are you trying to impress today?”

Using the opportunity in front of his face, Sejun responded in a jumbled murmur around his toothbrush, his mouth still full of toothpaste. Subin rolled his eyes and laughed as he left to get changed himself, the boy still in his pajamas. Sejun spit out the toothpaste and started washing his face himself, using the special cleanser that Subin had bought him for his last birthday. _If only Subin wasn’t completely oblivious. Who else was Sejun dressing up for if it wasn’t him?_

He could laugh this off later, but some part of him wondered every time Subin accidentally brushed away his attempts to show his affection if he was just so far out of Subin’s radar that he didn’t even consider him as anything more than a friend and roommate. Sejun grabbed his towel and gently patted his face dry before staring ahead at his reflection in the mirror. It’s okay, he determined. He was going to make his feelings known today. And no matter what the outcome was, he would be proud of himself for being brave.

——————————-

Sejun was not brave at all. In fact, he was a big coward, and a fool for believing Seungsik and Seungwoo’s advice. He had been totally deflected by Subin’s obliviousness. Lunch had been a fun affair, the food was delicious, and Subin’s happy face had made the high price tag worth it. He had thought that the atmosphere was appropriately romantic, the two of them sitting at a table on the patio in front of a nice beach. It was when he tried to pay for lunch, that Subin just looked at him with a questioning expression, wondering out loud why they didn’t just split the bill. And Sejun, instead of pulling up his big boy pants and channeling his inner Seungwoo, managed to muster up some pathetic excuse about wanting to celebrate the completion of Subin’s project. To his relief, Subin had agreed, promising to pay him back. Sejun then discarded Plan A, which was to confess at lunch. Plan B, which was to do so at the end of the day, was now up. He’d seen enough movies to want the romantic tension by the doorsteps. Isn’t that when people usually kissed on a first date? The fact that the two of them lived together did not lessen his enthusiasm.

After lunch, they had gone to an arcade for a few hours, playing vintage games. Most notably, Sejun had played a crane game for 20 minutes until he finally managed to get the plush that Subin had wanted. The other boy had scolded Sejun about spending so much money on him, but had hugged the plush close to his chest afterwards. 

They went to the movie theater in a rush, hysterical giggling the whole way after realizing that while distracted by the crane game; they were going to miss the showing that they had wanted to see. They managed to get there just in time, and Subin had forcibly insisted for Sejun to save their seats while he bought them popcorn from the concession stand, arguing that it was all he could do. The movie had been better than Sejun had expected, and he had left in a good mood. But then it was late, and they had gone out to a nearby late night ramen stand to eat dinner. Against his better judgement, Sejun had ordered some soju, and they finished two bottles, toasting the end of their long week. That was probably a stupid thing to do, given Subin’s alcohol tolerance.

So here Sejun was standing by the doorway of his grand stage, debating between laughing and crying, as Subin was leaning against his chest, barely conscious and head lolling, for the second time in about 24 hours. It was a heavy sense of dejavu, dragging him into the car and driving him back to the apartment. There was definitely no romantic moment now, as he would rather die than have Subin fall asleep on him again. Call him dramatic, but he had enough with having his ego bruised.

“Come on Subsub, it’s time for you to get ready for bed.” He gently dragged him to the restroom. 

Subin shook his head sulkily. “I don’t want to. I want to sleep.”

Sejun handed a toothbrush with the toothpaste pre-squeezed into Subin’s hand and commanded him to brush. Thankfully, his instincts kicked in, and Subin obediently started to brush jerkily. Sejun had long given up on getting Subin to shower. He had neither the energy, nor the willpower to move a limp ragdoll into water. Sejun started brushing his own teeth, watching carefully to make sure Subin didn’t faceplant into the sink. They finished and Subin wandered out of the bathroom back into his bedroom. Sejun followed after him. “Are you going to wash your face before you sleep?”

Subin face-planted down into his bed, barely kicking off his shoes before landing onto his mattress. “No….” He disagreed. “I’m going to bed.”

Sejun crossed his arms, leaning against the door frame. “You know you are going to regret this tomorrow, right? You always complain about getting acne when you don’t remove makeup.”

Subin just rolled over and yawned sleepily. “No worries, tomorrow’s Subin will be fine.” To nail in his words, he pulled his blanket over himself.

Sejun hovered, trying to determine what to do. On one hand Subin seemed to think that he’d be peachy, but on the other hand, Sejun was going to be the one dealing with the crankiness. With a fond sigh he went back to the bathroom and brought back the micellar water with a stack of cotton pads. 

Sejun poured a bit of micellar water onto a cotton pad and then started wiping off Subin’s foundation, starting with his nose and cheeks. The other was still mildly conscious, and very very drunk. He whined in protest and batted Sejun’s hands lightly with his fists. Sejun stifled a laugh at the adorable sight and shushed him gently. “You’ll be so cranky tomorrow if you don’t.” He could already imagine Subin’s whines when he woke up.

Subin pouted, his eyes still closed, and Sejun took the opportunity to wipe off his lipstick. He used another pad, pressing against Subin’s right eye, before wiping off the soft pink eyeshadow and mascara. He repeated with the other eye, and then used one more to pick up any sort of residual. By now Subin was asleep, his face peaceful as he breathed deeply. 

Sejun looked down affectionately, suddenly aware of how close his face was to Subin’s. He admired his long eyelashes and cute nose, and Sejun patted his floofy hair gently before getting up to return the items. He did his own skincare routine before grabbing Subin’s toner and moisturizer to finish up. 

When he finished, he pulled up Subin’s blanket, and patted his head gently before turning to leave. 

“Stay.”

He turned around, wondering if he was starting to hear things. In the dim room, he could see that Subin’s eyes were barely open, and he was so sleepy his eyelids started drooping. “Come here,” Subin whispered again, and scooted back in his bed to leave space for Sejun.

Sejun’s heart was pounding loudly in his ears, but he moved forward to slide in next to Subin. The other boy pulled him closer, their noses almost touching. Sejun felt like he was going to explode, staring into Subin’s face and feeling his breath against his nose. The moment felt so intimate, and Subin looked at him so tenderly that he was almost at the edge of tears.

“Hey Subin,” he whispered quietly. His head had cleared up and he finally felt confident. “I’m in love with you.”

Subin’s eyes blinked slowly and a small smile broke over his face. “I’m in love with you too.”

Sejun felt like he should be more surprised, but in the moment, time felt so slow in the dark bedroom, so he just followed his instincts and leaned forward to kiss him. 

Subin’s lips pressed against his own, and at that moment Sejun could only feel the soft pressure, Subin’s hand stroking his own, and a pillow pressing against his neck.

They parted, breathing heavily, and Sejun beamed helplessly. “I love you so much.”

“Talk about this tomorrow?” Subin asked quietly. He slipped a hand into Sejun’s. “Let’s sleep now.”

Sejun nodded, and moved forward to snuggle close. “Good night Subinnie.”  
————-  
Sejun woke up to something shifting beside him. Confused and sleep-dazed, he let out a small whine, and the shifting suddenly stopped. He made a satisfied sound and curled up tighter, when he suddenly realized where he was. He peeled his eyes open, last night’s events suddenly replaying in his mind in 2x speed. Subin was facing him on the other pillow, the two of them in a tight cuddle with Sejun’s limbs wrapped around him like a wild octopus. It was obvious that Subin was trying to shift into a more comfortable position after waking up. 

Subin had a small blush on his face as he watched Sejun’s eyes fill with awareness.

“Good morning,” Sejun said tentatively, a small smile making its way across his face. 

“Good morning to you too.” Subin leaned forward to give Sejun a kiss on the forehead. 

“Hey…why are you treating me like a baby.” Sejun protested. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy it though. He had been worried that Subin would either forget the entire conversation happened, or that he wanted it to be forgotten. 

“This isn’t treating you like a baby, it’s just affection!” Subin countered. “There’s a difference.”

A lightbulb lit up in Sejun’s head and he frowned in mock frustration. “What about what you’ve been saying recently!”

“What have I been saying?” Subin asked, genuinely confused. 

Sejun sat up with a petulant frown. He looked down at Subin’s confused face, eager to let him understand his frustration. “I’ve been trying to confess to you for days now. And you keep thinking I’m treating you like a younger brother. Who else would I try to cook for, or plan a date for, or pick up at 1 in the morning?”

He watched as awareness seemed to spread on Subin’s face, and the younger boy sat up too. “I thought you were just being you? All those things that you mentioned, other than planning a date, it’s just normal you? You have always been kind. That’s what I like about you.”

Sejun stared blankly at Subin’s face for a second, and then turned his face away, feeling his cheeks heat up. Hearing Subin state those words so plainly and with obvious emotion made his heart melt.

“Aww are you shy?” Subin teased. He leaned forward, ignoring Sejun’s attempts to hide his face, and gave him another kiss on his nose, producing a flutter of giggles emerging from his chest. “Come over here.” 

Subin fluffed up the pillows in a layer behind them and Sejun scooched back into them, letting Subin sit on his lap slightly and cuddle with him. 

“Talk to me next time, okay?” Subin asked firmly.

Sejun nodded, and held Subin quietly, his heart full. Speaking of talking...“ Subin, can I ask you about something?” Sejun’s words came out in a quick jumble.

“Hmm? Go ahead.” Sensing Sejun’s mood, Subin scooted off of Sejun’s lap and turned to him, giving him his full attention. Sejun couldn’t help but already miss Subin’s comforting weight, and his palms started to sweat again. He quickly wiped them against the blankets and took a deep breath. He knew that Subin would only answer in one way, but he wanted to hear it himself. 

“I know we are dating now, but does that mean you’ll live with me again next year?” He spilled out. 

“Of course.” Subin said dismissively. He seemed to wait for a follow-up question before realizing that was Sejun’s entire question. “Wait, you thought we weren’t going to live together next year?” he asked incredulously. A frown started to form on his face. “I thought it was a sure thing that we’d be living together, that’s why I never brought it up. I thought you were just trying to figure out whether or not we’d renew our lease here, or find another place.”

Sejun’s mouth dropped open and his brain started ticking slowly. _Was it just him worrying for nothing?_

Subin sighed and scooted closer to Sejun, throwing his arms around him to give him a hug. “I’m sorry I made you worry. I should have said something; it was unfair of me to expect that you would read my mind.”

Sejun’s shoulders relaxed, and it felt that the weight on his shoulders for the last few weeks had finally been lifted. “I’m not going to forgive you for a long time,” he muttered, but his words contrasted his actions. He burrowed his nose into Subin’s neck. “You’ve led me along all this time?!”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Subin said with a giggle. “How about a real date? With kisses and hand holding.”

Sejun pulled back, eyes sparkling and effort to appear upset disappearing. “You make me so happy.”

“You’re the cutest. But from now on, let’s be blatantly obvious with each other okay? It appears that neither of us can take a hint well.”

“Speak for yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed writing this, such a cute prompt!
> 
> It's never really mentioned, but Sejun had roomed with Seungsik and Seungwoo previously and had to watch as Seungsik and Seungwoo fell in love and finally became official. Seungwoo had asked Sejun to help him with asking Seungsik out.


End file.
